The Locals

The Locals by Jonathan Dee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Set in the period after 9-11 then leading up to the housing crash later that decade, The Locals is something of a small masterpiece.

The setting is the fictional town of Howland, Massachusetts, in the very real Berkshire County in which I was born and raised (he mentions all the places near to home, including Pittsfield, where I lived) The locals of this community are typical of a lot of Massachusetts towns: insular, distrustful of outsiders even while depending upon them for their precious tourist revenue. Mark Firth is a local contractor who has lost much of his money in a Ponzi scheme. In trying to fix this, he finds himself trying to meet a lawyer in New York City on…9-11.

Mark’s whole family still lives in the region, and the novel follows many of them in their individual and overlapping stories. Into this mix moves Phil Hadi, a wealthy financial advisor trying to get away from the mess of post 9-11 New York, but much like a lot of people who come into the region, he sets about making the area he lives more on par to what he is used to, hiring Mark to do some security modifications to his property. He winds up becoming 1st Selectman (Howland’s equivalent as Mayor) and quietly uses his money to fix many local problems, in an apparently benign attempt to keep Howland just the way it is. But not everyone is convinced that his motives are in fact benign…

Oh, how this book nails it so many times. While I have been away from this region for quite a long time, I recognize the attitudes and culture that Dee has characterized, even as I mildly resent him (from Upstate New York, no less!) as an outsider himself. The conflict he sets up between the locals and the outsider in their midst is totally relatable. And the layers of the story that he pulls off are quite a writerly feat that puts me somewhat in awe. I found myself alternating between turning the pages quickly and trying to figure out where this fictional town would lie on the map (my best guess: South County just a few miles down from Egremont, along Route 7.)

The Locals is excellent. I fear I’m barely skimming the surface here, but hopefully I’ve made my point.






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